


Unity

by DreamAlex



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Bisexual Female Character, F/M, Female Character of Color, Female Friendship, Friendship, Platonic Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-25
Updated: 2016-04-28
Packaged: 2018-06-04 12:35:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6657946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DreamAlex/pseuds/DreamAlex
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Most people might say that Chara is completely evil - that there is no redemption for Genocide. But what if Chara wasn't evil? What if she was always with Frisk? Through all the Neutral Routes, and even Pacifist. What if they had always been together? This is the story of Chara, and how she was awoken by Frisk's determination.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Awakened

Darkness.

No, not darkness. At least, not what it had been before. Something had changed from the limbo I was trapped in - something new. It wasn’t the void like I knew it. In the void, I couldn’t feel anything. Not my limbs, not my head, just nothingness.

Whatever this was, it was a welcome relief from the eternity I had spent wandering. Instead of nothingness… I felt something… tickling my arms and back. Wait… my arms? My body? Without thinking, light suddenly flooded everywhere in my gaze. It took me a few seconds to process that it wasn’t just light - it was eyes - _my eyes_ \- that had fluttered open.

Reflexively, I squinted at the bright stream of light flowing down on top of me. For a moment, I sat there, laying on the ground still, the ticklish sensation below me and a bright light above me. I tried to flex anything - to check if it wasn’t just eyes that I had. For one fearful moment, nothing happened. Relief flooded through me, however, when I could feel the smallest sensations of my body, and sat up into place.

Still, where I was didn’t register. How… how had I gotten here? One second I was asleep - as asleep as a restless soul could be that is, and the next I’m in my body. On a… bed of flowers? As if pulled by puppet strings out of my hand, I stood up, to take a look around me.

I had been lying on a bed of pretty, yellow flowers. Above, there was some kind of skylight. That was where the light had been coming from. It looked… familiar, somewhat. For a moment, I looked at it pondering.

Then it struck me from where I knew it. This - that was - it was the hole I had dropped through to get to the underground, so long ago. If this was ever a moment for my jaw to drop, it seemed it would have.

But instead of what I expected, my whole body started walking of it’s own accord. Surprise flooded through me as I tried to stop it - whatever strange pull was gearing me to go forward. How was any of this possible? I _died._ Asriel also died.

If I could, I would have stopped in my tracks as I thought about the last two statements. I had… he was dead. Our plan had failed. So, so, badly. I had died, he had died, and… and…

The ruins! I was heading to the ruins! I finally brought myself back to what my body was currently doing. A small hill on the ground was the only obstacle blocking us from entering the ruins. It looked almost the same as it did when I was alive - how long had I been gone exactly? The void seemed endless in time. Someone I knew had to be alive… right?

I should feel happy that I was alive. That I was in a body, and was heading back to the underground. And I should feel sad knowing that Asriel was dead - probably deader than myself at the moment.

But I felt nothing. Nothing at all. It was all so strange, and I had no time to reflect on any of this before I felt out whole body stop in surprise. I slowly turned my gaze from reflection on myself to the world around me. It was strange - seeing stuff happen to me from this point of view. I was used to my thoughts and nothing else.

But here, all I had were my thoughts, and no control. The eyes I was using was directed on the same hill we had been looking at a minute ago - but now there was a… flower sticking out of it. With a smiley face. Huh.

“Howdy!”

I felt myself freeze as I heard the voice echo the same words Asriel often said. Finally, my body reacted the same way that I wanted to, surprise etched in every of my movements. 

“I’m Flowey! Flowey the Flower!”

_Well that’s pretty obvious._ I had meant to speak the words, but my lips refused to move when I thought the words. I couldn’t even talk now? Great. Instead, the words I had thought seem to echo in my mind, filling up the space.

“Hmm… you’re new to the Underground, aren’tcha?”

_No! I’m a resident here!_ I thought - as that was the only thing I could do at the moment. While I could control small things, it seemed I was totally unable to do what I wanted.

“Golly, you must be so confused! Someone ought to teach you how things work around here. Guess little old me will have to do.” The flower’s movements were almost exaggerated as he talked, blinking innocently. A bit… too innocently. He sure talked like Asriel - but this flower… he felt… fake. Like he plucked Asriel’s speech from my mind. It made me shudder. I knew how the Underground worked - I didn’t need to listen to this guy. I willed myself to walk around, but still, it was like someone else was in control of my body.

Suddenly, I felt a pull. A pull on a SOUL. A SOUL. My SOUL.The physical representation of it appeared it front of me. I felt myself stiffen as I stared at it. It couldn’t be. My SOUL was still intact? After all this time? How was that even possible? Asriel… he had absorbed it. He had died. I had been released into the void. The last physical thing I had felt was when Asriel turned to dust. Did my SOUL survive it? Was that why I had consciousness in the void? Was that why I was still alive now?

I was snapped out of my inner thoughts as Flowey spoke again. LV? EXP? I stared at the flower, willing my jaw to drop once more - which to my displeasure it did not. He was seriously trying to make me believe LV stood for actual _love? Yeah, right._ I let my thoughts out once more, into my mind. _Cause level of violence is really what love is about._

Just as I finished my inner thoughts, my body stiffened, as if it just realized what Flowey was talking about, while I had noticed it second beforehand. A late response is better than no response, I guessed. Even if I hadn’t willed my body to do it that time.

Suddenly, though, I realized what the Flowey was now saying. Sharing love with us? As if he would ever do that! I scoffed at the concept. Yeah, this troublesome guy would share something with us. To say I wasn’t surprised when the white bullets appeared would be an understatement at this point. ‘White friendliness pellets’. Yeah, right.

And now, they were heading towards my SOUL. And nothing. My SOUL… it wasn’t moving! My body had relaxed, as if they were willing to catch these pellets and be killed. _NO! DODGE THEM!_ I screamed out, but only managed to get my voice echoing in my head, just like before.

For a moment, nothing happened. The white bullets were still speeding toward my SOUL, and once again, I was about to die. Helpless to do a thing about it. But at the last moment, something happened. Something that I couldn’t put my tongue on. In my mind… I felt understanding. Somebody else's understanding. And at the last moment, my SOUL moved ever so slightly as to dodge the oncoming bullets.

Immediately, relief flooded through me. It had dodged. I was safe. I didn’t even have time to realize that I was actually feeling something, before this flower started talking again.

“Hey buddy, you missed them. Let’s try again, okay?”

_Yeah, right!_ I wanted to shout, wanting to throw it into this stupid flower’s face that he hadn’t tricked me, but still, my voice only echoed in my mind. This was ridiculous! I couldn’t talk, I barely had control over my body, and this DAMN FLOWER WAS TRYING TO KILL ME!

I didn’t waste a second this time. Gathering what force that I could, as as soon as he began floating the bullets toward me, I once again dodged, throwing my SOUL all the way to the right to dodge this time. Once again, something weird happened. Surprise floated through me. Why was I feeling surprised? I knew what I had to do, and I wasn’t going to play Flowey’s games.

“Is this a joke? Are you braindead? RUN. INTO. THE. BULLETS!!!!” 

_Not happening._ I thought smugly, even if he couldn’t hear the satisfaction that I was feeling right now. Without my help, my SOUL dodged the bullets on the own, now eliciting real surprise from me. I hadn’t even had the chance to think about dodging, and my SOUL had dodged the oncoming slaughter. That… wasn’t supposed to happen. But either way, I wasn’t dying. Great start.

I couldn’t even ponder why my SOUL had moved of it’s own accord, when the Flowey’s face… changed. Moments ago, he had smiling. And his face had only scrunched up slightly when I missed the bullets before popping back to that bland happy face. Now… it was twisted. Beyond belief. Like the facade it was hiding was finally over with.

_“You know what’s going on here, don’t you? You just wanted to see me suffer.”_ All mannerisms that I had pictured with Asriel were dropped. Flowey was finally showing his true colors. And honestly, the scary look on his face creeped me out a bit. Who knew a yellow flower could be that horrible? Even the ones in my village were just flowers - not the result of the humans there. 

“DIE.”

Oh, gods, no. I could only stare helplessly as suddenly, those white bullets were multiplied by who knows what number, completely surrounding my soul on all sides, in a circle. This wasn’t fair! This wasn’t how you were supposed to fight! What kind of LOVE did this creature have? I could imagine humans having it - but monsters? Sure, some of them loved to fight for some reason, but there had always been a way to escape. Apparently, this flower wanted us dead now and here.

Moving my SOUL would do nothing, I knew - there was no way out when it was completely surrounded. Still, I watched my SOUL try to move around, before it seemed to realize it had nowhere to go.

Despair started to flow from somewhere else. It wasn’t mine… but as soon as I felt the raw emotion, I began to feel it myself. Together, my own despair and the foreign emotion mixed together, combining in a heap of despair. 

_I’m going to die again… this is it. I came back to life to live for a whole five minutes._ I thought bitterly, fighting the urge to laugh at how stupid it really was.

I only just noticed the bullets disappeared, through the tears that had started to gather at my eyes. Not only that, but I stiffened as suddenly, a fireball came out of nowhere and knocked the flower away.

I gasped, as my eyes trailed to where the flower had disappeared to. A fireball? I only knew three creatures who had the ability to do that. Asriel… But it couldn’t be him. He was dead.

“What a terrible creature, torturing such a pure and innocent soul…”

I froze, feeling my heart stop. Mom. It was mom. I watched her come closer, feeling my heart beating fast. It was her. It was really her.

“Ah, do not be afraid, my child.”

_Mom!_ I wanted to cry and reach out to her. This was the first time I was seeing her for so long. I felt frozen in time though, once again trapped, unable to do anything.

“I’m Toriel, caretaker of the ruins.” _What?_ I stared at her, in disbelief. _Don’t you recognize me? Why are you introducing yourself?_

“I’m…” My mouth moves, spilling out words that are not my own. I scream to empty air. _CHARA! YOUR DAUGHTER!_ “... My name is Frisk.” I mumble, not of my own will.

_Who is controlling my body?_ The despair that I was still feeling only increases, as I think something. Something that couldn't be true. Slowly, mustering whatever willpower I still had, I forced myself to look down.

I was wearing a blue and purple striped shirt that was not my own. Darker skin color. It… It wasn’t me.

I wasn’t in my own body.

I wasn’t in control.

I was trapped, alone, in a body that was not my own, with my mother right in front of me and no way to reach her.

Knowing that despite my knowledge that I wouldn’t be heard, I let my despair out anyway, and began to sob, silent to the outside world.


	2. The Ruins

The ruins look almost exactly like I remember them.  
  
I stare as my body - no, _her_ body walks around, inspecting the ruins as Toriel guides them. I want to reach out, grab Toriel’s hand, and apologize for everything - tell her that I’m still here with her. But it seems what little control that I had before has disappeared out of my reach now. The fear that had paralyzed Frisk enough to let me take over for a while was gone. I was back to being in the backseat of this ride.

Mo- Toriel was leading us through the ruins. And surprisingly, not much had changed since when I first got there. Honestly… the only thing that changed from my memories of first tumbling through here was how _old_ everything looked. Vines hung on the walls of the ruins - and the walls themselves crumbled here and there. But the puzzles were the same as I had remembered them. If Toriel had let us, I would have made sure to go do that spike puzzle all on my own. It wasn’t _that_ hard to understand. Couldn’t ‘Frisk’ understand what the sign meant by herself? And the dummy - talking to a dummy. I wanted to facepalm right then and there, but nevertheless we talked to it.

I was, to be honest, bored out of my mind. I had experienced most of this before. So, I had been almost staring out into space, not paying attention to what Toriel was saying. It was great being by her… but it was like before. I barely felt anything towards her. It was only a small trickle of emotion that was aimed towards her. And I wasn’t even sure if it was _my_ emotions anymore.

After all, only a little bit earlier did I happen to feel Frisk’s emotions. She felt the same despair that I did when Flowey was about to kill us - even more, she felt it before I did. And I knew that I had felt it after she did. She didn’t even know what was really going on - yet...  it was strange, really.

“I would like you to walk to the end of the room by yourself for me.” What? Surprise rippled through my face, not only from me, but also from Frisk. Now, this was new. “Forgive me.” Immediately, Toriel turned around and started to run across the room, and in a few seconds, we lost sight of them.

Immediately, I felt a new emotion flood through our body - distraught. Coming straight from Frisk - the other half of this shared mind. But, unlike last time… I didn’t feel it. I didn’t need to. Toriel… she was always kind. She wouldn’t just leave>. Unless something had drastically changed after I died, the kind women I knew would always be right around the corner.

I stare at the empty space where she was just a minute ago. We were supposed to be going. But it seems Frisk had frozen - like she wasn’t sure what the heck she was going to see at the end of the hallway.

_Come on, move!_ I think hard, and once again echoing around me. I do wonder if I was talking to myself - or if Frisk could hear me. She had to know somebody else shared her body… right? Either way, we were still not moving, our body even stiffening more. If any, that was probably a sign that she could hear me - and was probably wondering who the heck was talking to her when no one else was in the room.

“ _Move, please! We can’t just stand here!”_ I begged silently, hoping that Frisk would respond. Instead, all I got was our head now being spun around, trying to find the source of the voice - my voice, which was obviously inside her head. Honestly. Did I really have to do all the work around here?

_“Fine then. I’ll move for us.”_ Immediately, I grasped the will power - I suppose it was the control of our body, not my own will power, and thrusted one leg forward. And we did move - rather sloppily, and I almost made us stumble to the ground, but still, we had managed to move one pace. Immediately, satisfaction filled me. This power - my determination, it was back. It was like I had finally wrested control away from Frisk, and back into my own hands.

Gaining more confidence, I moved our other leg, and felt a smile creep up on my face. Despite the surprise coming from what was Frisk - and the panic. _“H-Hey!”_

I paused in my footsteps as finally, another voice echoed around the chambers. About time that she began to talk back, and notice.  
_“Yeah?”_ I thought hard, sending it about as I took another step, despite the wobble that I still had - after all, it had been a while since I had a body of my own, wasn’t it?

_“Who are you? What are you doing?!”_

I felt myself snicker aloud, and immediately beamed that I could control my vocal sounds - even if it was only just a snicker at this point. I didn’t even to stop to think that maybe Toriel had noticed. “What does it look like I’m doing? I’m walking. Toriel said for you to walk, and you froze. So I did the walking for us.”

For a moment, Frisk was silent as we moved ahead, with still no Toriel in sight. Then, another question. _“Who are you? What are you doing in my body?”_

“Not completely sure of that last part. I remember waking up when you did - probably when you fell. You did fall, right?” Now I was completely enveloped in walking - heck, it was one of the most exciting things that I could do at the moment. When you’ve been dead for so long, I guess that just happens.”

_“So you don’t know? … You didn’t answer my first question, by the way.”_

_“No clue. And well… my name’s Chara, if you really have to kn-”_ My thoughts were abruptly cut off when Toriel appeared out from behind a post - the only one in the room, actually. I let out an inner sigh - if I hadn’t been so caught up with talking, then I probably would have noticed before walking right past it. Either way, Toriel seemed proud of me.

A bit of pride trickled from Frisk - and immediately, I started beaming even more. I had gained a bit more control, and had made Toriel proud. Compared to Frisk’s emotion, mine completely outshone hers now. While for her, it was from a near stranger. To me… it was like from a mo-... immediately, my pride died down at my unintentional thoughts, dimming it.

“It worried me slightly, my child, that you took so long to get over here.” Toriel said, looking at us with a little worry on her face.

_“That’s thanks to you.”_ I thought pointedly, hoping that Frisk got the message.

“But then I saw how happy you were looking around, I just couldn’t interrupt you.” Toriel finished warmly, smiling down at us.

“Haha… yeah.” The words slipped out of my mouth, before I even realized it. I even surprised myself by it. Frisk hadn’t talked much at all since she had met Toriel - except to introduce herself.

Toriel seemed to brighten to see us respond once more, before continuing on, saying she had to leave for a little while. Well, that sucks. At least she gave us a cell phone.

When she leaves, suddenly I find myself walking. This time - to the post where Toriel had his from us. With a sigh, we sat down, leaning back on it.

_“What are you doing?”_ I think with a huff, annoyed that I was once again in the backseat.

“ _I’m waiting like Toriel said.”_ Frisk huffed right back, before continuing on. _“Can’t you leave me alone? You said it was a mistake for you being inside me - so get out.’_

_“Listen, I’d love to. It’s not fun being in the backseat, trust me. But… I can’t. Even if I could, I wouldn’t want to. I’d probably just go back to being dead.”_

_“Dead?”_ Frisk’s thoughts squeaked out. “ _What do you mean ‘dead’?”_

_“Dead. I died. And then my SOUL died. I shouldn't even exist.”_ I had to admit, I was probably scaring Frisk out of her mind at the moment. But… I didn’t really care either. She had asked, I would answer. Not like there was much to do except stare at the purple walls of the room, and the occasional monster that hopped or flew close to me.

_“... So are you a ghost?”_

_“Uh… No? Maybe so? Not entirely sure. I just know if I leave, I’ll probably be on a one way trip back to the void.”_

Then, there was one peaceful minute of quiet.

_“What’s the void?”_

I wanted to facepalm right then. Who knew this girl was so inquisitive? How was I supposed to answer half of these questions if I didn’t know the answer myself?

Either way, with a sigh, I began picking off the fuzz of my sweater. _“It’s where I was after my SOUL shattered. Don’t know much else about it. I was the only one there. I thought there might have been someone else for a while… But then he disappeared.”_ Silence filled the room, and I felt the beginning of another question on Frisk’s tongue begin to form. _“Before you ask something else, I deserve answers too. Why’d you climb this mountain?”_

_“I was hiking with a friend of mine… I knew they said the caverns were haunted, but we chose to go have fun anyway.”_ It was a better reason than my own, I guess. A happier reason, anyway. _‘It was an accident falling in… I wonder how they are now.”_

_“I fell too.”_ I could feel a flare of surprise emit from Frisk in response at our similarity. _“But I didn’t climb this mountain for a happy reason.”_

Silence filled the area again.

_“I’m sorry.”_

_“For what?”_ Now it was my turn to be surprised.

_“For whatever made you climb this mountain.”_

_“... Thanks.”_ If Frisk expected me to open up completely - to the horrors that I had been subjected to as a youth, she was so wrong. I wasn’t about to open up - at least not yet. Too bad for her if she wanted to hear my whole life story. My mouth - well, my thoughts - were shut off, as I stared at the wall harder to concentrate all my attention on _not_ thinking.

Plus… she was a human. That in itself did not sit well with me. I may have been born a human, but I was a monster at heart. Frisk… Well, she may act differently than the humans I knew, but she would only give me empty pity if she knew what I had been through. She wouldn’t have to empathize - especially if she had a reason to return to the surface. If she was smart, she would want to stay with Toriel.

_“_ Toriel…” I let out a sigh from our body, unable to help myself as I thought about her. She was like a real mother for me. Asgore and her raised me like their own. Like Asriel… It made my heart hurt thinking about it all. I couldn’t even go up to Toriel and tell her that I’m me without her probably thinking I’m crazy… And what would Asgore think?

Where was Asgore anyway? The gears in my mind began turning as I realized something. Many people had left the ruins - and the monsters here were few and far between. And Toriel passed through where I fell every day? Why wasn’t she at New Home - I still facepalm at the name - with Asgore, leading the country?

_“Chara?”_

Frisk’s voice cuts through my thoughts, and I let out a inwardly groan. Couldn’t I get any peace and quiet? Narrowing our eyes, and gripping our legs tighter to our chest, I reluctantly answer.

_“Yes?”_ I say icily. For a few seconds, I sensed hesitation coming from Frisk.

_“... Is Toriel your mother? Is that why I sensed sadness from you when you said her name?”_

For a moment, I felt the hairs on my neck begin to bristle at the intrusiveness of the question How dare she ask something like that? … But I suppose I had let me emotions be a bit too clear.

_“... Yes, when I was alive she raised me as her own. She was a mother to me like no other.”_ I suppose I should have felt something saying these words - but when I pulled my heartstrings to find the emotions I needed, I felt… Nothing.

_“She is pretty nice.. “_ Just like before, I felt a trickle of emotion from Frisk - something I realized I was once again missing. Fondness… And just the tiniest of love.

A gasp came out of me, as the emotions nearly tripled in strength. It was now coming out of me. “You!” I say out loud, even though Frisk wasn’t a person psychically in front of me.

_“What is it?”_ I felt the alarm renovate through our body from Frisk, at my sudden outburst. For a moment, I grit my teeth, and ignore her, feeling the need to roll up my hands into fists and just punch something -anything.:;;

_“You - you feel emotions. I can’t! At least not until you do! It’s like… Something’s missing. Something important.”,_ I feel my lip tremble slightly, and find myself swaying, but Frisk doesn’t seek to rip control from me while I’m weakened. For that, I am grateful for.

_“You… You can’t feel emotion?”_ I sensed it as soon as she said the words. She was pitying me. Instead of calming me down, it only made me madder. My nose flared in indignation and

_“No! Yes? Maybe?”_ Oh, this was the second time she had made me question myself. That only added fuel to my fire. _“I can feel the emotions that you have - since the moment you have them. They don’t disappear from myself after they happen to you… does that make sense?”_

_“Kind… of?”_

_“Well that’s the only explanation I got, so that’s the only explanation you are getting.”_ I sigh as I raise my hands to rub my forehead - or our forehead. Our hands? This was gonna get confusing. That only made the headache that had started pound harder in my head.

_“Whatever… we’re not going to stay here though.”_ I said, finally making some kind of decision. At least it would be better than staying here and getting asked a million questions.

_“But Toriel said for me to stay here!”_ For a second, our feet almost tripped over themselves as they headed to the door, in an attempt for Frisk to stop me from going any farther.

_“Yeah, but trust me. She’s gonna take a long time - and then we’re going to have to go look for her anyway. I’ve been through this a million times. We always have to try to find her. Always.”_

Frisk dropped silent, to my satisfaction. Finally, we could proceed. And maybe if I was lucky, I could persuade Toriel into giving some of the answers I seeked without giving away my identity.

_“We?”_

I frown as I stop a few feet from the doorway. _“What?”_

_“You said we. I didn’t drop into the Underground until now. You said ‘we’ always have to find Toriel. What do you mean?”_

Silence, and I had to once again grit my teeth so I wouldn’t bite her head off. Instead, I replied half-heartedly. “Nothing. I meant nothing by it.

Not waiting for Frisk to ask any more questions, I moved onto the next room.


End file.
